Turkish Troops Seize Rebel Kurd Leader

Turkish troops captured an elusive Kurdish guerrilla leader in a raid in northern Iraq so secret that even Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz was kept in the dark until it was over. Security sources said an army special forces team grabbed the Kurdistan Workers Party’s former field commander, Semdin Sakik, outside a house in the northern city of Dahuk. “He was brought back to Turkey and is now under interrogation by special forces,” a military source said. Sakik, known as “Fingerless Zeki” after losing a thumb in combat, was the guerrillas’ most feared commander. He surrendered last month to Iraq’s Kurdistan Democratic Party militia, which is allied with Turkey, after his party’s leader threatened him with death in a dispute over tactics. Civilian and army officials say the Kurdistan Workers Party is falling apart under military assault after 13 years of conflict in which more than 27,000 people have been killed. The Kurdistan Democratic Party condemned the seizure operation and said it was a blow to its close ties with Turkey.